"Comfort, O comfort my people!" With these words begins a beautiful passage in the Book of Isaiah that is often quoted in the Advent season. These are words of restoration addressed to a people in exile, and words of mercy to a people suffering under oppression and a sense of divine judgment. They also present a vision of peace that has resonated through the ages - peace that is coming but not yet here; peace that is glimpsed from a distance through the wilderness. What do we make of this vision of peace today, amid the world's current troubles and violence? What is the path that can lead us from here to there, or at least closer to this vision of wholeness and justice? Eric will wrestle with these questions in light of the Advent season's message of waiting, preparation, and anticipating the arrival of a new world.